Women in cultural racist parties

During the last 20 years their has been an upsurge in research on xenophobic populist parties mirroring their political successes. However, these studies have rarely touched upon the role of women and immigrants within these parties. While women are often invisible in research, located in a marginal role as girl-friends and sisters, migrants support to these parties is often defined as a contradiction in terms and remains un-theorised. The aim of the article is to analyze the double edged relationship between on the one side women and migrants approaching the Swedish xenophic populist party – Sweden Democrats, and on the other side the specific discourse the party embodies emphasizing on the one hand anti Islam, anti Arabic and anti Muslim racism and on the other creating and producing notions of Swedish and European values. Theoretically the research is framed within feminist and postcolonial studies, Methodologically the study is based on in depth interviews and life-stories with women and migrants representing SD in municipal councils and text analysis of policy document, political parties and media.